SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY COURSE TITLE: ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN FLORENCE AND TUSCANY COURSE CODE: LA AH AA 355 3 semester credits 1. DESCRIPTION This course explores the principal architects and artists, monuments and themes from the 1300s up to the 1500s in Italian art and architecture. Class time is divided equally between slide lectures and on-site visits in the city of Florence. Emphasis will be on Renaissance architecture in Florence, but we shall also consider architectural developments in some other Italian towns. Special topics will include: architectural theory, Medici and papal patronage, urban planning, and church and palace design. Special attention will be given to architects Brunelleschi, Michelozzo, Alberti and Michelangelo, while visiting key Renaissance buildings and urban spaces in Florence. 2. OBJECTIVE By the end of the course students will: Have gained a broad historical knowledge of Florence and Italy from the 1200s to the late 1500s, and will have become familiar with specific Renaissance masterpieces of art and architecture. Have gained an understanding of the developments in the visual art of Italy, especially of Florence. Be familiar with different techniques, practical problems in executing pieces of art and major achievements of Florentine Renaissance architecture. Be able to describe and discuss work of art particularly related to the artists explored in the course. Have developed visual skills and be able to identify different architectural styles and periods. Be familiar with the language of art, including specific artistic terminology, iconography and symbolism related to the subject matter of the course. 3. REQUIREMENTS Prerequisites: None.
Lectures are held in English. A questionnaire is distributed on the first day of class to inform the instructor about the general background and characteristics of the students. Students are not required to answer all questions. Individual study of the notes, the readings, the handouts etc. at home is required after every lecture, at least on a weekly basis. On your lecture schedule you will information on each meeting s readings: a good pre-reading activity of the material is highly recommended to better follow in-class explanations. Students will be asked to research, read and study quite often at the School Library. Please make sure you are familiar with it (know how it works, opening and closing times, facilities, etc.) from the very start of the course. For the material you will need to type, please check the school computer facilities. No eating is allowed in class A responsible and active class participation is expected at all times and activities At all times cell phones must be turned off (both during lectures and visits) Students will be provided with terms and words used commonly in art history language. Please also consider important notes on attendance, participation and assignments (as described in pertinent paragraphs). 4. METHOD Teaching is divided between lectures with slides and on-site lectures (see the program at the end of this prospectus, point 12). Guided visits to churches, palaces, museums and galleries are as important as lectures taught in class. Teaching is object-based and students are required to participate in the description and analysis of artworks in class and on site. Considerable space will be given to the comparison between artists styles and the political, historical and artistic context in which they operated. 5. TEXT BOOK FURTHER READINGS INTERNET RESOURCES SUGGESTED TEXT BOOKS: GOY R., Florence: The City and Its Architecture, Phaidon, 2006 TRACHTENBERG M., Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art, and Power in Early Modern Florence, Cambridge University Press, 2008 Handouts will be distributed daily and must be completed for the next class meeting. INTERNET RESOURCES Two excellent sites for finding images (the first of the list with excellent bibliography): http://www.greatbuildings.com/types/styles/renaissance.html http://www.wga.hu/ An interactive Medici Family tree: http://beckydaroff.com/arthistory/medici/index.html# For an interactive experience of the Gates of Paradise: http://beckydaroff.com/arthistory/gates_of_paradise/index.html Monumental sculptures in Renaissance Florence: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/orsanmichele/index.shtm 2
6. VISITS TRIPS Make sure you know the exact meeting points each day and how to get there: be aware that there might be changes in the visit schedule, mainly due to adverse weather conditions. Dress comfortably, especially with regard to footwear there is a lot of walking and standing for long periods. Churches may be very cold. Do not burden yourselves with heavy bags not always there are places to check them in. Absolutely NO food or drink, not even a small water bottle, is allowed inside museums and churches. Under NO circumstances attempt to eat or drink inside a church or museum. You will be given sufficient breaks to eat and drink. Please do not be late at the meeting point, as the class cannot wait for you to start a visit. This is especially so when we have timed reservations for State Museums. If you miss a visit you must go independently and as soon as possible to the museum in question with the appropriate explanatory handout. Also please inform yourselves of any instructions for the following day. MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS HAVE YOUR MAP AND KNOW WHERE TO GO 7. MATERIAL LIST Handouts or photocopies will be distributed during the course, or simply uploaded on a class blog. A flash drive may be useful for slide ID, presentations, etc, but it is not necessary. Make sure to bring a notebook and a pen to take notes. Don't bring large or heavy bags in case of scheduled outdoor visits. 8. ADDITIONAL FEES In addition to the textbooks, students are responsible to pay for all museum / site visit entries and reservation costs as well as any materials necessary for the successful completion of the course. Students will be informed on the first day of class of the exact amount for the above by the instructor. 9. EVALUATION GRADING SYSTEM 10% Attendance 10% Class Participation and Assignments 15% Mid term quiz 15% Looking assignment 20% Oral presentations 30% Final Exam A = 93-100 %, A- = 90-92%, B+ = 87-89%, B = 83-86%, B- = 80-82%, C+ = 77-79%, C = 73-76%, C- = 70-72%, D = 60-69%, F = 0-59%, W = Official Withdrawal, W/F = Failure to withdraw by the designated date. 10. ATTENDANCE PARTICIPATION Academic integrity and mutual respect between instructor and students are central to Palazzi s academic policies. This is reflected in the attendance policy. Class attendance is mandatory and counts towards the final grade. Roll will be taken at the beginning and end of each class. Coming late and leaving earlier affects the attendance and participation grade. It is important that students come to class on time. Two delays will be considered one absence. Each absence from class will negatively impact your final grade (Attendance). 3
After the second absence the instructor will notify the student is at risk. After the third absence the instructor may lower the final grade by one letter grade at the end of the term. (Example: 90/A- = B-) After the fourth absence the student will receive an automatic Failure. It is always the student's responsibility to know how many absences they have in a course. Travel is NEVER an excuse for absence from class. 11. EXAMS PAPER The mid term quiz will be 10-15 questions (multiple choice, short answer questions, matching the answers ) on themes covered up to the quiz. 15% of the final grade The looking assignment will consist in pre-assigned questions to answered independently in a museum or in town, hand in to the professor after it is complete.15% of the final grade Oral presentation: 10 minutes oral presentation on works of art and architecture related to the course. This must be completed by bibliography and sources and delivered via.ppt or.pdf presentation. It is meant to test your ability to deliver the study material in verbal form, and to do research independently. The presentations will also work in preparation for your final exam. 20% of the final grade Final exam counts for 30% of the final course grade. The Final exam is divided in 3 parts: Part I: 5 slide ID to identify by artist, title, date, plus a short 5 lines description of the work. Part II: 5 short-answer and medium-length answer questions (also including match up or multiple choices questions) Part III: essay question on a very broad and transversal topic, which tests your critical and analytical skills. In the essay question reference to critical readings are very welcome. You may also be asked to comment on a critical point of view, covering specific points in your discussion. A detailed review study guide will be supplied a week before each exam. Participation: assignments, readings, count together for 10% of the final grade. 12. LESSONS For exact dates and assignments, please check the attached addendum Lesson 1. Orientation Lesson 2. Presentation of the course; introduction to the class syllabus. Information on quizzes and exams. Lecture: In the beginnings Objective: overview of the course and introduction to the history and history of art of the city of Florence from its foundation in Roman times to the early 1100s. Visit: A Walk in Roman Florence and the stratification of styles in the fabric of the city. Objective: Get the lay of the land. Learn how to read the stratification of history in the city. Learn how to distinguish Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles 4
Lesson 3. Lecture: From Romanesque and Gothic Architecture to the birth of Renaissance Architecture. Visit: Walk to Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato church: Florence at your feet Lesson 4. Lecture: Civic Pride and Religious Order: Palazzo Vecchio, the City Cathedral and other churches. Visit: The Duomo and the Baptistery (outside). Orsanmichele (outside), Palazzo Vecchio (outside). Objective: Learn about Arnolfo di Cambio s buildings and the role of civic pride in the construction of the image of a powerful city. Lesson 5. Lecture: New Religious Orders and the structure of the city: Franciscans, Dominicans and their Florentine churches. Visit: Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella churches. Objectives: Learn about the main religious orders that shaped the architecture of the city and their cultural role. Learn about their patronage, the art they commissioned, and how to read elements of style in the fabric of their churches. See Masaccio s Trinity fresco as an introduction to the issue of visual perception. Lesson 6 Lecture: Florentine Domestic Architecture. The frescoes by Ghirlandaio in Santa Maria Novella Visit: Palazzo Davanzati and Palazzo Horne (Reservations at 10.00 am) Objectives: See how merchant and aristocratic families lived, explore their habitat and the objects of their daily life. Learn about Florentine tower homes and the architecture of domestic spaces. Lesson 7 Lecture: Early Renaissance Art In Florence. The patronage of the Early Medici in art and architecture. Architecture as propaganda. Visit: Palazzo Medici (interior/exterior). The Medici's private chapel frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli. Walk to the Convent of San Marco. Objectives: Learn about the great Renaissance artists and patrons that created art 5
and shaped their city. Lesson 8 Mid-term quiz Followed by visit to the Convent of San Marco Lesson 9 Lecture: Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti: the invention of our way of seeing. The invention of Perspective. Visit: Spedale degli Innocenti. On site lecture on the Hospital and on the Dome of the Cathedral. The Gates of Paradise at the Baptistery. Objectives: Learn about the structural innovations brought about by Brunelleschi and his new architecture. Experience firsthand the magic of the spaces he created, understanding the technical solutions he put in place to create a new way of building. Lesson 10 Visit: Church of San Lorenzo and the Old Sacristy. Santo Spirito Church and San Felicita Church, Palazzo Rucellai (outside and loggia). Palazzo Strozzi (outside and courtyard) Objectives: Experience at firsthand and learn about Brunelleschi s revolutionary construction techniques. Experience Brunelleschi s spatial solutions for his last project as well as the work of his pupil Michelozzo, and see perfect architectural examples of the Renaissance s beauty ideals: harmonic proportions, symmetry and order. Understand Alberti s compositional principles. Individual visit: Duomo s Cupola. No booking necessary. Lesson 11 ******** Lecture: The age of Savonarola. The Expulsion of the Medici from Florence. Their return with Leo X (Giovanni de Medici) and the age of the age of the Grand-dukes. Visit: The New Sacristy and the Medicean Library in San Lorenzo by Michelangelo. Objectives: Understand the passage from the glorious age of the Early Renaissance to the tormented moment of the Mannerism, and its repercussion in the architecture of the city. Lesson 12 ******** Visit: the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Garden 6
On site lecture: Mannerist architecture and the invention of the renaissance garden Objectives: Go in depth on the caprice of the inventive Mannerism style. Lesson 13 ******** Oral presentations: 10 minutes oral presentation on works of art and architecture related to the course. Objectives: Ability to deliver the study material in verbal form, and to do research independently. The presentations will also work in preparation for your final exam Lesson 14 Visit:. Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia dei Lanzi and Vasari s work. Objectives:. Learn about the developments throughout the 1400s of Renaissance ideals in private and public architecture, and how the public spaces of the city are renovated and shaped by the Medici family in the 1500s. Learn about the strategic and propagandistic reasons behind the display of public art in major city squares and buildings. Individual visit: Michelangelo s David at the Accademia Gallery. (Book in advance) In class: Review in preparation of Final Exam. Lesson 15 Final Exam. ALTERNATIVE LESSON In case professor will be unable to attend, a substitute will carry his/her class according to the syllabus schedule 7